EXCLUSIVE: UK Business School Dissolved Over Financial Insolvency Continues To Run ‘Fake’ Programs For Nigerian Police Officers

Metropolitan School of Business and Management, United Kingdom, presents itself as a leading international organisation that delivers high-value Master of Business Administration (MBA) courses.

The description on its website reads, "a leading UK based online school offering students' MBA courses."

Further findings show that the institution also operates centres in Lagos and Abuja.

However, investigations have revealed significant gaps in the claims of the institution, which portrays itself as one of the leading online schools in the United Kingdom.

Filings on the UK companies registry and database reviewed by SaharaReporters show that the organisation was struck off and compulsorily dissolved in the United Kingdom on February 13, 2024.

Records indicate that it was first served a notice for compulsory strike-off in November 2023.

The organisation was initially registered in the United Kingdom in August 2015, but its inability to meet its financial obligations, as reflected in its accounts, led to its compulsory dissolution.

As contained in its last financial records reviewed by SaharaReporters and published in 2022, the organisation had current assets valued at only €8,366, while owing creditors up to €25,428.

Listed as its directors were Victor Ariyibe-Oke and Tolulope Ariyibe-Oke.

At the point of registration, Metropolitan School of Business and Management was registered with four directors.

Brown Olugbenga Gabriel resigned his appointment as a director on August 3, 2022, after initially joining the organisation in August 2015. Ariyibe-Oke Victor also resigned as a director on the same day.

Another director, Ariyibe-Oke Tolulope Opeyemi, a Nigerian, resigned her position on August 31, 2015. However, she returned in August 2022 as a director under a new name, "Ariyibi-Oke Tolulope," and was listed as a Dominican citizen.

Following the compulsory dissolution and strike-off of Metropolitan School of Business and Management Limited on February 13, 2024, Tolulope Ariyibi-Oke, now listed as being of the Dominican Republic, proceeded to register the business name again on February 16, 2024.

In the new registration, Tolulope Ariyibi-Oke was listed as the sole director, with only one share allotted at the value of one pound (€1).

As of the time of filing this report, the financial worth of the assets of the newly registered Metropolitan School of Business and Management in the UK, following the compulsory dissolution of its earlier registration, stood at just €2,092.

Further checks show that some of the images displayed on the institution’s website were sourced from digital tools and stock assets.

Despite these issues, the school continues to lure Nigerians, including police officers, with its world class claims and claim of being one of the leading online schools in the world.

Sources told SaharaReporters that amid its strike-off and insolvency issues, police officers in Nigeria have been made to undergo training programmes organised by the institution.

"We are being mandated and made to undergo trainings with the Metropolitan School of Business and Management UK, despite the credibility of the organisation being in question," a source told SaharaReporters.

For instance, SaharaReporters’ investigation further shows that the Commissioner of Police in Zamfara State, Kolo Yusuff, had previously participated in a training programme organised by the Metropolitan School of Business and Management.

Police sources also told SaharaReporters that personnel are currently being directed to participate in the "Inclusive community police professional course" organised by the school, despite lingering concerns over its claims of being world-class and questions surrounding its financial solvency.

Sources also told SaharaReporters that a training program for Divisional Police Officers in the country was recently organised in partnership with the Metropolitan School of Business and Management. 

The training program was facilitated by one 'Professor' Allen Abiola Abiodun, whose professorship is also being questioned.

"Despite the state of the school, the police authorities through the approval of the Inspector General of Police held training for Divisional Police Officers in the country. The training focused on ‘Critical Thinking for DPOs-Prerequisite To The Forensic Criminology and Investigations Course,’” a police source said.  

"The school is being paraded as a leading world class institution in the United Kingdom, a move that is false."

The continued engagement of Nigerians and law enforcement agencies personnel with an institution that was recently struck off and dissolved in the United Kingdom has raised concerns among observers, who question the due diligence processes guiding such partnerships and the implications for public institutions relying on organisations whose legal and financial standing remains in doubt.